I’m a Holy Knight, but I Contracted with an Evil God - Chapter 54

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 54.
After running through the narrow passage for some time, a faint light began to appear at the edge of the darkness.
It was an exit connected to the surface.
“……!”
It was by the narrowest of margins.
The attendant, clutching the Sacred Relic to his chest, threw himself into the carriage in one leap.
The moment the attendant boarded, the carriage lurched forward with a thunderous clatter of hooves.
As Leon pushed off the ground in pursuit, Ecrizei’s voice pierced through his mind.
【Stop. It’s already too late.】
At the same moment, the carriage’s silhouette, receding into the darkness, began to ripple and distort in an unnatural way.
It was a scene he had witnessed before.
Exactly the same phenomenon he had seen with Tristan in the Eastern Region not long ago.
“Magic?”
Leon muttered the frustration aloud, bringing himself to a halt.
The distance between them had already grown considerable, and with the spell already in motion, continuing to chase seemed pointless.
Beyond that.
【You don’t seem particularly regretful about this.】
“I have a rough idea where it’s being taken.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed as he tracked the trajectory of the carriage until it vanished entirely from sight.
The Tears of Adbena unmistakably carried a Foul Aura.
This meant the Tears of Adbena were not in their original state, and retrieving the tainted Sacred Relic would be worthless.
Unless it were to be used for a purpose entirely different from its intended one.
【That little one who came with us is going to be quite upset, I imagine.】
“Well, I suppose Corbin would be. But honestly, even if we recovered the Tears of Adbena, it wouldn’t be of much use.”
【Why not?】
“That Foul Aura—it was clearly contaminated, wasn’t it? If a Sacred Relic is tainted, you can’t expect its original effects. It might even produce harmful ones instead.”
【Then why go to the trouble of running after it?】
“For one, to avoid raising Corbin’s suspicions, and for another reason…….”
Leon answered as he examined the traces the carriage had left behind.
The deep wheel ruts pointed directly toward the Imperial Palace.
Even if they had vanished midway because of the magic.
“I was after the carriage more than the Sacred Relic.”
His suspicions were clear, but he needed certainty.
And equally, whether the Imperial Daughter’s visit to the Auction House was done alone or if there were other collaborators involved.
【So, did you find what you were looking for?】
“Yes, I think so.”
Leon turned back toward the Auction House with a cool smile.
He needed to verify a location he had marked while pursuing the Imperial Daughter.
* * *
Leon returned to the spot where he had felt a subtle sense of wrongness while chasing the Imperial Daughter’s attendant.
Hidden in the middle of the corridor was a fork that would be difficult for outsiders to notice.
“It should be around here…….”
At first glance it appeared to be nothing but stone wall identical to its surroundings, yet it could not completely deceive Leon’s keenly sharpened senses.
Besides, this was the path he would need to take anyway to rejoin Corbin.
【There’s no need to hurry back? Wasn’t that little one fighting alone?】
“Corbin? He’ll be fine. The Vaniser people weren’t targeting him specifically, and he’s not the type to get trapped in that chaos.”
Corbin was small-framed and quick on his feet.
Though Leon had never seen him fight directly, as an Elite Knight himself, Corbin’s skills were likely comparable to Tristan’s or Sion’s.
For someone like Corbin to slip free from that melee would be nothing.
The slight delay Leon was taking to investigate this place would not put him in any real danger—he simply wasn’t the type to suffer harm from such a wait.
“So let me check this first.”
Leon replied as he pushed forcefully against one of the stone walls that resembled the others.
With a heavy grinding sound, a concealed space slowly revealed itself.
“Oh, this is quite the find, isn’t it?”
【This is no mere storage room.】
An intrigued smile played at the corner of Leon’s mouth as he surveyed the interior of the revealed space.
The hidden chamber was so cramped that only a desk and bookshelf could barely fit inside.
Yet within that narrow space, all manner of sinister objects and documents were crammed without an inch to spare.
【Surely you’re not thinking of searching through all of this?】
“There’s no way. When would I have time for something like that?”
With time running short, there was no possibility of examining every item in detail.
Seeing the jumble of trinkets and valuables piled haphazardly, Leon sharpened his senses further still.
He needed to sift out the truly useful objects—those with an unusual aura.
“Half of this is garbage.”
He prioritized items that carried an uncommon presence or magical force.
Weapons caught his eye as well, but there was no time to verify and collect each one.
Besides, if he took too much, it would be difficult to escape Corbin’s notice.
“Hm?”
Among the pile, a few objects with an distinctly unusual aura snagged his attention.
They carried an impression similar to the Tears of Adbena, yet they were unfamiliar to him.
There was only one conclusion he could draw.
“Damn. So the Order of Light isn’t the only one pilfering Sacred Relics.”
Leon clicked his tongue and slipped two of the most conspicuous items into his garments.
Just then, Ecrizei spoke in a low voice.
【Take that one as well.】
“That one? Which?”
【The thing wrapped in the red cloth.】
What Ecrizei pointed to was a bundle of red cloth resting on the desk.
As Leon carefully unwrapped it, an old ring emerged.
“This?”
【It will be useful.】
Leon swallowed his doubt and tucked the ring away in his garments.
He could ask for details later.
Leon then turned his attention to the stack of documents piled on the opposite side.
“This needs to come with us.”
Among the scattered papers heaped on the desk, Leon found what he was looking for: an old ledger.
To check whether it contained anything he couldn’t share with Corbin, Leon quickly scanned its contents.
The ledger detailed the items traded through the Auction House, along with their sources and destinations.
However, it was filled with jargon used only among staff and complex, knotted formulas that even Leon’s discerning eye could not fully decipher.
But the one who came with him was Corbin, the Elite Knight most adept at this sort of interpretation.
Corbin would be able to decode these cryptic records accurately.
With this thought, as Leon turned to the next page, he discovered an anomalous list.
“……What is this?”
At the midpoint of the ledger, a dense column of names—clearly of noble origin—was recorded.
Some he recognized, others he did not.
And among them, one name in particular caught his eye.
“……Benedito Ilseran? Isn’t this the name of Ilseran Yeongshik, who went missing and died not long ago…….”
In that moment, the scattered fragments in Leon’s mind clicked into place like a puzzle, striking through his consciousness.
“Could this be a list of their targets?”
It had to be.
The conditions were unclear, but these names were undoubtedly a roster of people the rats had marked—or planned to mark.
* * *
As Leon emerged from the secret chamber, Corbin stood waiting against the corridor wall, covered in blood and dust.
“Did you catch him?”
“No. My apologies. He used Magic.”
Corbin clicked his tongue in disappointment.
He looked regretful, but he didn’t direct his frustration at Leon.
“I did find something else, though.”
“What?”
Instead of answering, Leon held out the ledger he had brought.
“I found it on the way back and took it. It appears to be the Auction House’s ledger.”
Without a word, Corbin accepted the ledger and opened it, then began examining it far more meticulously than Leon had.
“Well, well—they’ve been quite busy. This is good stuff, isn’t it? The source, circulation, and sale price of every item is recorded here.”
“Can you read it?”
“Yes, yes. It just so happens that deciphering this sort of thing is my specialty.”
True to his word, Corbin nodded repeatedly as he combed through the lines of the ledger.
His analysis proceeded far more swiftly and sharply than Leon’s had.
After scrutinizing the ledger for some time, Corbin’s finger came to rest at the same spot Leon’s had.
The problem page—filled with the names of countless individuals.
“……What are these names? They don’t seem to be a simple list of buyers or sellers.”
“It appears to be a list of missing persons.”
“Missing persons?”
“Or perhaps those scheduled to go missing.”
Leon pointed to the section bearing Benedito’s name as he elaborated.
“Benedito, the Count of the First Circle, disappeared from Silvaren Forest not long ago.”
“Wait—Silvaren Forest?”
“Yes, sir. The same incident where Sepian fell.”
The moment Sepian’s name left Leon’s lips, Corbin’s expression froze cold.
Corbin, too, seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.
“The First Circle who disappeared was discovered in the Red Corridor, wasn’t he?”
“That’s correct.”
“If these names are a list of missing persons or those soon to be missing, then whoever runs this Auction House is in league with them.”
“Precisely. This place may well be a distribution hub for the missing.”
At Leon’s measured words, Corbin’s rising heat gradually subsided.
His mind clearing, he spoke with newfound precision.
“The Imperial Princess is the problem.”
“Yes, sir. If we treat this as the Auction House acting alone and pursue that thread, the trail will go cold. At minimum, it’s clear the Princess is protecting this place.”
Leon was certain of it.
The very fact that the Princess used the Auction House’s secret passages was unmistakable proof she was at least granting it her favor.
Even if she didn’t know the precise details of what was being traded here.
“Then this alone isn’t enough. To properly implicate the Princess, we need more evidence.”
Or else a catastrophe of equal magnitude.
Leon could already guess what the Princess intended to do with the Tears of Adbena she’d taken.
If the same events unfold as before the Regression, he would surely be able to stop it.
Leon turned to Corbin, who had sunk into deep contemplation.
“I would advise against informing the Order.”
It was a statement that could border on insubordination, yet Corbin showed neither indignation nor confusion.
He merely responded with a bitter expression.
“So there really is a rat in the Order.”
You suspected it already?
The depth of resignation in Corbin’s response was too profound to attribute merely to witnessing the Tears of Adbena here today.
He looked like someone who had just had an ominous premonition, long harbored in silence, confirmed by another.
“I had my suspicions. There were times when things didn’t add up.”
There must have been multiple incidents Leon knew nothing of.
Events troubling enough to fuel Corbin’s sinister doubts. Several of them.
“Do you not suspect me?”
“No. The suspicious circumstances started before you even took your vows. So it can’t be you.”
Corbin added with an awkward smile.
“Besides, you recovered Sepian’s body for us. A rat wouldn’t take that kind of risk.”
“It could have been a ploy to gain trust, couldn’t it?”
At Leon’s question, Corbin finally burst into genuine laughter.
“If a ploy was needed, I’d have used another method. Sepian died to a mutant, didn’t he? Why would a rat risk their neck like that?”
Corbin swallowed a heavy sigh.
Then he turned the page and carefully examined the remaining contents before speaking.
“The other sections need to be shared, so I’ll submit the Ledger. But—”
With a sharp ripping sound, Corbin’s hand tore away the page bearing the list.
He handed Leon the torn page, then tucked the remaining Ledger into his breast.
“This stays between us two.”
“……Until when, sir?”
“Until we find the rat in the Order.”
As Corbin spoke, his lips bore an indelible bitterness, edged with cold determination.
To be continued ▶
A Holy Knight Who Made a Contract with a Dark God
Author
Ram-dak
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publishing House
Grae Publishing
Contact Email
[email protected]
Publication Date
March 27, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227066
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and duplication are prohibited. Violation of these terms may result in criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram awaits your precious manuscript.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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